The other day I was on Pinterest looking for a good plank challenge plan when I saw a pin for a Black Widow workout. Black Widow as in Black Widow who can be seen in many of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies but not on much of the merchandising Black Widow? Yes, that one. It was indeed an illustrated workout combo inspired by the woman who, among other things, saved a super soldier multiple times. There was punching, kicking, and oh yes, climbers. So I decided to give it a try the next day. Let’s just say it looks easier than it is. But it’s a fun element to add to your fitness regime. I’ve heard of a couple gyms being based around geek/nerdy themes or incorporating them into their WODs, but it’s something I had never tried.

Then I realized there were several other similarly illustrated geeky-interest-inspired workout sets floating around from the same site. So I ended up on neilaray.com and there is literarlly a treasure-trove of these with instructions, info about what muscles you’re working, and tips. They even have timer buttons for your rests in between sets. It’s all part of the NR Project, which is a volunteer-run passion project to make fitness fun and accessible. As such all the workouts are available for free; you can even download them as pdfs.

What’s more most of them don’t require equipment so you can do them anywhere you have the space. A whole range of female, male, . . . → Read More: Geek Out Your Workout

Back in late 2014 when many fans were having mixed feelings about the distribution method of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens teaser trailer, another movie franchise was revving up its marketing campaign. By November a website called Masrani Global appeared online, giving background on the fictional corporation that will be a part of this summer’s Jurassic World. A countdown to the teaser trailer soon followed on social media ending in a surprise early online release.

Often the stories and visuals of movies create a world (or galaxy) of their own, and I love it when the marketing team jumps on that to expand that experience beyond the movie itself. Exploring the Masrani website reveals the company now running the park after buying InGen following the passing of Dr. Hammond. It confirms Jurassic World has been open since 2005 on Isla Nubar, which fans will remember as the site of the first Jurassic Park. Further inspection shows the other businesses in the Masrani portfolio, a few videos, photos, and some in-between-the-movies background on at least one more previous movie character. You can even apply for one of their job openings in the event you’ve always wanted to be a dinosaur veterinarian. And don’t worry – this is “the safest theme park in the world.”

What’s more, this website is being updated. The CEO (a new character to the franchise) has a blog which recently revealed the name of a new dinosaur they’ve been working on, which also ties into the . . . → Read More: In a (Jurassic) World…

Last year I set a movie-watching agenda for myself with Only Grand Captain Mockingjays of Future Tomorrow: Kay’s Top 10 Movies to Look Forward to in 2014. For the most part, it worked out pretty well. It motivated me to get out and see most of those movies in theaters, and I largely was pleased with my choices. You can read my reviews of all ten films here on FANgirl. Making the list, I would not have guessed Muppets Most Wanted would be the one to disappoint me the most. If I could time travel, I would have replaced it in the top ten with Snowpiercer, but I hadn’t heard anything about Snowpiercer when I made the list. And even then, I don’t know if I would have gone for it, but it turned out to be a very intriguing (albeit violent) film.

I’m still concerned I’m missing 2015’s Snowpiercer on the new list, but here goes something (in U.S. release date order)…

Strange Magic – January 23rd Here we have an animated fairy tale with a tagline (on at least one of the posters) “Everyone deserves to be loved.” That’s attention-catching, but it’s also inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which may well very be my favorite Shakespearean play. It’s a Lucasfilm project with a soundtrack of popular songs and standards. And oh yeah, some guy named George Lucas worked on the story.